Flooding remains after several inches of rain douses North Georgia

ATLANTA FORECAST

Friday: High: 67

Friday night: Low: 48

Saturday: High: 61

» For a detailed forecast, visit The Atlanta Journal-Constitution weather page.

The rain has moved out of metro Atlanta, but it left behind a myriad of problems — wet pavement, closed roads and other flooding concerns.

Rainfall totals over the past 24 hours top 4.5 inches for Decatur, East Point and Helen, according to Channel 2 Action News. Dunwoody has seen more than 5 inches, and about 4.3 inches fell at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

All that rain has caused creeks, rivers and streams to overflow their banks. All of North Georgia is under a flash flood watch until 7 a.m. Saturday, and flood warnings have been issued for parts of Fulton, Clayton and Douglas counties.

Several roads are closed throughout north Fulton County across Alpharetta, Sandy Springs and Roswell.

MORE: Some roads, trails closed in north Fulton due to flooding

In Buckhead, Peachtree Battle Avenue is closed to traffic between Northside Drive and Howell Mill Road because of high water, according to Atlanta city officials.

Even athletic fields were affected by the flooding. The baseball, softball and football fields at Westminster Schools were under water.

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The WSB 24-hour Traffic Center reported spin-out crashes all morning, and issues have continued this afternoon.

A crash on the Downtown Connector has blocked three left southbound lanes near 17th Street, causing heavy delays, according to the Traffic Center.

In Fulton County, police activity still blocks a right lane of I-285 South at Camp Creek Parkway after previously blocking all lanes and diverting traffic, the Traffic Center reported.

MORE: Gunfire outside Publix leads to a chase, a shooting and an interstate shutdown

I-75 in Henry County is also slow, but it’s mostly due to heavy volume, the Traffic Center reported.

Showers have subsided, but that’s only round one of three of the rain for the next several days, Channel 2 meteorologist Katie Walls said.

Over the next five to seven days, Walls said she is “looking at rainfall totals upwards of 6 inches, so I anticipate the flooding to remain a concern.”

This year was sitting at the eighth-wettest on record for Atlanta at the beginning of the week, but the rainfall Thursday and Friday morning has bumped 2018 through the rankings. It is now ranked as the second-wettest year on record, and Walls said it could be close to the top spot by Dec. 31.

The record was set at 71.45 inches in 1948, and Atlanta was at 69.46 inches Friday.

The silver lining? Temperatures reached the mid- to upper 60s Friday, making conditions positively springlike for the end of December.

And while more rain is highly likely over the next couple of days, Walls said, at least it won’t be constant. The chance of rain goes down significantly for Saturday at 20 percent.

“Clouds will basically not break at all tonight into tomorrow, but at least we will be heading into a bit of a break (in the showers), allow the ground to try to absorb some of this rainfall,” she said. “At this point it does look like your Friday night into most of the day on Saturday should be mainly dry.”

Round two of the rain, forecast to roll in late Saturday, should not come on quite as strong, according to Channel 2. But Walls expects heavy rainfall Monday night to put a damper on your New Year’s Eve plans.

“The next big wave of rain, unfortunately, it’s arriving right in time for New Year’s Eve into New Year’s Day,” she said. “At this point, some of these heavier rain showers look to be moving in on the night of New Year’s Eve.”